Piecing together the Wrestlemania card from January to March is one of my favorite WWE pastimes. It's fun to see the pieces fall into place, especially when there are actual pieces being put into place like last year.

This week's ye olde Observer says that WWE has tentatively decided on the top six matches for Wrestlemania. John Cena vs. Miz for the title and Undertaker vs. Wade Barrett are considered the main events and were the only two named specifically. No plans are being made around Brock Lesnar at the moment because he doesn't have permission to do the show. Randy Orton vs. CM Punk (w/ Nexus) was talked about in a previous issue.

If I were to take a guess on the other three, Triple H vs. Sheamus seems like an obvious one, even if Sheamus is losing a surprising amount lately. HHH coming back for the Rumble surprise makes sense but considering how little Wrestlemania has going for it this year, I might even hold him out another two months and have him return for Mania as opposed to having him on TV for two months.

I'm assuming Edge will in the WM title match and Barrett won't get the belt in the Chamber to wrestle Undertaker because we don't need title vs. streak or Undertaker as champion anymore. So for the other two I'd guess Christian vs. Alberto del Rio and then Edge vs. Rey Mysterio since they're the two important guys left. Christian factoring into important longterm plans doesn't sound like their m.o. but he has the injury angle. If Christian comes back earlier then they could do Del Rio vs. Christian at Elimination Chamber as the setup for Del Rio vs. Edge (who's friends with Christian again) for the belt.

With basically every match being a new heel against a long-established top face, the card -- without any celebrity involvement that could materialize later -- kind of looks like a scary one for business, especially when last year's show did below expectations with much more marquee matches. But considering where they're at right now, I don't think treating this as a rebuilding Wrestlemania would be the worst thing. Putting Miz et al in main events this year establishes them as worthy main eventers for next year. And it's nice for to see Wrestlemania not revert to the caste system for once, when Edge or Jeff Hardy would break through into main events and be doing really well only to get kicked out of the title picture in time for Mania so that Triple H, Cena, and Orton could wrestle each other.

Of course, it always goes without saying that they could scrap everything tomorrow and build to Cena/Orton instead. Last year there was a plan from the start and they stuck to it, but at this time two years ago the planned lineup for WM25 was

Cena vs. Orton for the Raw world titleHHH vs. Edge for the SD world titleMichaels vs. JBL for slavery freedomUndertaker vs. Kozlov for the streakJeff Hardy vs. Christian for being a secret assassin

If the rumors are true and at least on the Smackdown side of things, the stars are aligning, this looks weak. We have seen Cena beat Miz, we all know Wade is going to lose to Taker who will probably destroy Kane between RR and Mania. Punk vs. Orton is interesting, but not Wrestlemania interesting. HHH vs. Sheamus will be a gloried squash just like last year. If they throw a returning Christian vs. Edge at Mania, it might be worth getting excited.

I always get together with friends for Mania, so I will see it, but we will probably bash it like we did for the last few years. They don't have a Taker/Shawn or Shawn/Flair to bail them out this time. Last year they did a great job pimping it only to fizzle out after Cena/Batista became a typical Cena match and saved by the main event. It won't shock me to see Brock or Batista or even Booker T return. Vince has had Shawn, Austin, Rock, Kurt, and Taker to bail him out in year's past. Now, he is faced with a broken down Taker who may or may not be ready to go to Mania. I am sensing a lot of celebrity crap this year to make up for the new blood that will have major roles.

I do think things will change mainly due to the inevitable big injury that happens between now and Mania. Hopefully, it will lead to something not as weak sauce as Miz/Cena.

You are forgetting that we know Wade will lose and in fact we expect it.As long as WWE builds it up that MOST of the fans have some sort of doubt, they do their job.They did that with the first Shawn match, they did that when he faced Orton, they can easily do it again with Barrett.Regardless, Barrett will look and talk like a credible opponent.

If the Miz is the champ at WM, it means he will defeat Randy Orton at the Rumble, and survive the Elimination Chamber.Yes, he will cheat, weasel out of things and what not.But that's his character.

We've seen Cena beat him before. But now there is a difference (again, in the eye of MOST of the viewers)The Miz is now the champion, has more experience and could have the skills and the help to beat Cena.

I for one would love it if this was the Wrestlemania card.A lot of new characters in the marquee matches.I was happily surprised last year when Jericho beat Edge to keep the title. I can only hope for a few of those surprises this year. And if not, at least most of the matches should be at least decent in-ring action.

And if they don't want to go with Del Rio vs Edge, then maybe just maybe we can get Edge vs Christian >:)Ok. Yeah, that would never happen...

Was it Justin who threw out the idea of making HBK a ref at WM? Undertaker vs anyone with HBK as ref will make a tangible, non-zero percentage of the audience go from "of course Taker will win, why are you wasting my time?" to "hold on a second..." That's the only way to make win 19 worthwhile if you want to bridge to win 20 (Cena)

To me, the obvious main event is Cena vs. Undertaker, but UT's health is the major concern there. WWE would only want to book that match if they knew 100 percent for sure that UT would be ready to go by Mania, so they'll probably hold off on that one until Wrestlemania 28 and cross their fingers and Taker doesn't totally break down over the next year.

This might sound a bit out of the box, but what about Undertaker vs. Rey? They fought a couple of times last year but it's still a fresh opponent for Taker, and though it'd be a competitive match, they have an 'out' if they need to cut it short since Rey is so undersized. They could do five high-octane minutes of Rey sticking-and-moving and evading UT's offense, but finally Taker catches him with a tombstone and it's lights-out. The match result is a foregone conclusion, but it'd be a fun match and it kind of foreshadows the 'beloved face vs. the streak' mega-story that will come at WM 28 when it actually is Cena vs. Undertaker to see if UT can go 20-0.

Or, to go even a bit more out of the box, what about Cena vs. Rey as this year's main event? It's a "dream match" that's never been done, to my knowledge. It'd take a bit of a booking leap to achieve, but....maybe a unified title match? Smackdown is a dying show anyway so its world title is more and more useless by the day. Might as well merge them and provide an excuse to get Cena on SD every once in a while to boost ratings.

Originally posted by JustinShapiroOf course, it always goes without saying that they could scrap everything tomorrow and build to Cena/Orton instead. Last year there was a plan from the start and they stuck to it, but at this time two years ago the planned lineup for WM25 was

Cena vs. Orton for the Raw world titleHHH vs. Edge for the SD world titleMichaels vs. JBL for slavery freedomUndertaker vs. Kozlov for the streakJeff Hardy vs. Christian for being a secret assassin

and then everything was rearranged the weekend of the Royal Rumble.

Even if the fan pops demand it, Cena/Orton is played. Even Cena/Orton at Wrestlemania is played, if that WM25 card is any indication.

I don't expect UT/Barrett to stick. If they haven't forgotten the fact that Nexus helped bury UT alive, I'd much rather see UT/Punk, because the Nexus presence will at least have the result in SOME doubt. Stick Barrett in MitB match, assuming there is one.

What I'd REALLY want, though, is to have a continuation on the last couple of WM's. Have Triple H make his return at the Rumble and start the build towards UT/HHH, where HHH wants to avenge Shawn Michaels' loss and subsequent retirement.

The EC PPV is such a cop out, in terms of shuffling the title matches at the last second. I personally wish they'd scrap the February PPV entirely and spend a good two months building to Miz/Cena, climaxing with the Raw GM's identity revelation or with Cole's official heel turn (which, from emma's live Raw report, is an idea they're already toying with).

I'd be thrilled to see Miz main event WrestleMania and defend the WWE Title, but actually, I feel like the seed was planted on the RAW after WrestleMania last year (I think it was that show) when Miz confronted Bret Hart and declared that he was 1-0 in his Streak at WrestleMania. Much more interesting than Barrett would be Miz gunning to end Undertaker's streak. That means he loses the title at Elimination Chamber, but the promos Miz could cut on Undertaker leading to WrestleMania would sell that match on its own. By the time Miz was done talking, people would be dying to see Taker Tombstone Miz and shut him up. Losing to Undertaker at WrestleMania would not hurt Miz in the slightest and he gets to join that storied list of legends who have fallen to Undertaker at WrestleMania, of which John Cena should be the last name on the list to make 20-0 and ride Undertaker into the sunset.

While I agree Cena should be 20, I don't think losing to Taker at Mania has really helped anyone. Miz losing the title and then facing Taker who will just squash him is not a good idea. Miz deserves to be in the main event and Taker/Miz won't be the main event, it will be in the middle of the card. Miz vs. anyone not named Cena or Orton will be fine. My hope for Taker's opponent is either Brock or Kane, someone who will lose and not affect them in anyway. Wade is a logical choice to face Taker, but I want Wade to win, so book it for another PPV instead of Mania. At this point, I am going to throw Miz vs. Edge for the unification match since they seem to heading in that direction or at least a unification match. I still say Punk vs. Cena would be a good Mania match or least a feud that can go to Mania if Cena is hurt worse then we are being told and has to sit out til RR.

If Jacobs is serious about retiring in the near future, they should just do Taker vs Kane and have good trimpuh over evil and then the two of them disappear in a bolt of lightning never to be seen from again.

I agree that with no HBK to carry 30 minutes of the card that they should really go Cena/Taker for the streak. I don't see another match on there that would get people talking unless they did something crazy like have Helmsley take another shot at Taker for the streak with HBK as the special referee.

I really want to see Punk/Cena and Barrett/Taker at Mania... but that means the Miz is really sort of floundering with the title. To me, both of those matches are great, fresh match-ups but agree with so many others in this thread: there's no one knock-out, can't-miss main event lining up just yet for this year. Unless we get a big set-up for Vince vs. either Warrior or Macho Man, of course.

All of my guesses really are for nothing until we see who wins the Rumble and what gets set up for the Chamber the month after that.

EDIT: Count me in as one who would be happy to see Sting come in for a match, even against Taker, though that helps no one except the 16 year-old I USED to be who loved Sting once upon a time.

(edited by GRL on 9.1.11 1305)"Maybe I'm getting off topic, but this thread already sucks, so I don't feel bad about it. " -LotusMegami

"The only way TV Gangrel could change is if Real Gangrel changed." -Filipino Elvis

Why is it that everyone seems to assume that UT, a guy who can essentially do what he wants, who works in an industry where everyone who can still walk has unretired at some point, and who still gets some of the biggest pops of the night when he appears is such a lock to retire for good after next WM?

Originally posted by spfWhy is it that everyone seems to assume that UT, a guy who can essentially do what he wants, who works in an industry where everyone who can still walk has unretired at some point, and who still gets some of the biggest pops of the night when he appears is such a lock to retire for good after next WM?

Because predicting this is the end of Taker/his last run has been an annual tradition going back at least 8 years, and then Taker turns around and gets a world title reign post-mania in most of those years. If they had been patient with Cena/Original Nexus and had him do heelish tendencies only to break away come Mania time, that could have been something big to build towards.Only way Sting comes in would have to be a one shot deal. Really, when was the last time Sting was 'on the road'? 1993?

Originally posted by spfWhy is it that everyone seems to assume that UT, a guy who can essentially do what he wants, who works in an industry where everyone who can still walk has unretired at some point, and who still gets some of the biggest pops of the night when he appears is such a lock to retire for good after next WM?

I wonder if vince looks at the bottom line and sees Taker getting presumably a big salary (high 6 or low 7 figures maybe) and has been injured or off the road for a significant portion of the last 2 or 3 years.

Originally posted by spfWhy is it that everyone seems to assume that UT, a guy who can essentially do what he wants, who works in an industry where everyone who can still walk has unretired at some point, and who still gets some of the biggest pops of the night when he appears is such a lock to retire for good after next WM?

I personally am finding him hard to watch these days. He is so obviously in pain and he can't even really hide it anymore. I'm wincing when he takes bumps. He may go on for years, but I sure wish he wouldn't.

Originally posted by spfWhy is it that everyone seems to assume that UT, a guy who can essentially do what he wants, who works in an industry where everyone who can still walk has unretired at some point, and who still gets some of the biggest pops of the night when he appears is such a lock to retire for good after next WM?

Because it's getting to the point where Taker can barely walk. Having a perpetual limp might work when your gimmick is an aged but still dangerous hardcore warrior like Terry Funk, but it doesn't help the mystique of a half-zombie dead man. Also, Cena/Taker is just too perfect an exit match --- UT gets one last big bout against the biggest star in the company, the streak goes to 20-0 and it's this generation's Hogan/Andre.

If Sting is to do a one-off match, it should be against Micheals. I know this is far from happening. They both have so much in common outside the ring, but total opposits inside it. That would be the only match I would want to see Sting in the WWE.